Ivan Nova belongs up here. The rookie is 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA. He gave up just two runs, six hits and one walk while fanning six over seven innings in this 17-3 win over the Orioles in the second game.

Yet his immediate future is unclear. Joe Girardi said the plan for him has yet to be discussed, and he left open the possibility of a short-term six-man rotation. Nova obviously doesn’t want to have to go back to Triple-A. But he said, “That’s a decision I don’t make. Of course, I want to be here.”

He added: “I just thought pitch my game, pitch a good game. If I had to prove something, I did already.”

*Rafael Soriano made a nice return, a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts in the second game, his first outing for the Yankees since May 13.

“I felt really good to be out there,” Soriano said. “Thank God I came back and everything was OK. I was pain free.”

There was one negative.

“The velocity wasn’t there,” Soriano said.

But he added that he thought it would come back with more outings.

*Derek Jeter took a grounder off his finger in the second game, but Girardi thought he would be OK for Sunday’s game.

*That Yankees-record 12-run first in the nightcap included 70 pitches by Zach Britton and Jason Berken.

“It’s tough to swallow,” Britton said. “The game’s over in the first inning. As a position player, I can’t imagine what they’re thinking. They know that there’s no way we’re going to win this game, most likely. So it just takes the winds out of your sails.”

*Robinson Cano finished 5 for 5 with five RBI, the first Yankees second baseman to get at least five hits and five RBI in a game since 1920.

*The Orioles traded first baseman Derrek Lee to the Pirates for a minor-league first baseman.

*The Red Sox reportedly were on the verge of getting righty Rich Harden from the A’s. But then there were reports that the deal collapsed.